The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert

Join us on Sunday afternoons to hear our very own "Fabulous Philadelphians" in live, recorded concerts from Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has a long and venerable history of radio broadcasts, as the first orchestra with its own commercially sponsored national radio series, beginning in 1929 on NBC. This weekly series of radio broadcasts marks the return of the Orchestra to the airwaves. WRTI's Gregg Whiteside is producer and host.

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Creatively Speaking

4:54 pm

Mon January 5, 2015

One of the Czech Republic's most lauded young conductors leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI this Sunday, January 11th at 1 pm. As WRTI's Jim Cotter reports, the program includes at least one work that embodies the Czech spirit.

In his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, Prague Philharmonia Chief Conductor and Music Director Jakub Hruša brought to the podium a program bookended by composers from his homeland. One of Leoš Janáček's earliest works, Jealousy and the Symphony No. 8 of Antonín Dvorák. This was, in turn, an early work for Hruša.

This is a must-hear broadcast for all of our organ music enthusiasts! It's The Philadelphia Orchestra's All-Organ Weekend from this past November - a mini-festival, of sorts, that represents the culmination of a month-long celebration of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ at Verizon Hall. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts.

For lovers of the "King of Instruments," this special three-hour broadcast will be a feast of glorious sound.

What became known as the "Resurrection" Symphony is one of the longest, most ambitious, and profoundly moving orchestral works ever composed; its unusual impact and philosophical import have been recognized ever since Mahler conducted the premiere in Berlin in 1895.

Creatively Speaking

1:33 pm

Mon December 15, 2014

Handel’s Messiah, originally composed for performance during the springtime Christian observance of Lent, has become a contemporary staple of Christmas celebrations in modern America. WRTI’s Susan Lewis has more on this 18th-century oratorio.

On Sunday, December 21, at 1 pm, WRTI will rebroadcast The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Philadelphia Singers Chorale with soloists in a 2013 performance of Handel's Messiah, at The Kimmel Center

Tue December 9, 2014

The entire Philadelphia Orchestra family was saddened this past summer by the death of a great friend of the Orchestra, and a musician of exemplary standards. The eminent Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, who passed away in June, 2013, is featured in a rebroadcast of a program performed in February of 2013, one of his last performances with the Philadelphians.

Creatively Speaking

6:10 am

Mon December 8, 2014

A symphonic self portrait that premiered in 1830 has become one of the most-performed works in the orchestral repertoire. WRTI’s Susan Lewis discusses this epitome of romantic program music with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

Guest Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, a familiar presence on the podium here in Philadelphia, returned for a visit to Verizon Hall in late October, for a concert we hear broadcast on Sunday that continues three programming themes heard throughout this season: the 40/40 Project, the presentation of pieces that have not been performed on subscriptions concerts in at least the past 40 years, or ever; a month-long celebration of the “Art of the Pipe Organ,” featuring Verizon Hall’s majestic Fred J.

Think of the rising of the sun...for the first time ever. Russian Conductor Vladimir Jurowski says it's an ingenious beginning to the tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra by German composer Richard Strauss, based on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's novel of the same name.

Music from the popular symphonic piece played a memorable role in the 1968 Hollywood film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. As WRTI’s Susan Lewis reports, those famous opening bars are only the beginning of a work that continues to engage and intrigue audiences.

In the late 19th century, prominent composers began to emerge from countries that had not been center stage in international musical life. Among these leading figures were Jean Sibelius in Finland, and Antonín Dvořák and Leoš Janáček in the Czech lands.